Security Vulnerability In Windows Internet Explorer

Background



Recently Microsoft discovered vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) on all currently supported versions of Windows.

The vulnerability enables unauthorized third parties to take control of IE users' computer by tricking them to visit Web sites tainted with malicious programming code.


Microsoft Action



*Microsoft is scheduled to release a security bulletin update (out-of-band) at approximately 10 A.M. Pacific Time on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 in an effort to protect customers.

*Microsoft recommends that customers prepare their systems and networks to apply this security bulletin update immediately once released to help ensure that their computers are protected from attempted criminal attacks.


Resolution Expert Action



*Resolution Experts should advise the customers to update anti-virus on their system.

*Resolution Experts should reset IE to run in protected mode (default mode) in Windows Vista but not in Windows XP and earlier versions of windows.

*Resolution Experts should Set zone security to high.

*Resolution Experts should ensure Windows is updated or perform this manually through Windows updater or set it to automatic updates.



For more information, please see

Microsoft TechNet Security - Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for December 2008

Microsoft Protect - Get Security Support

How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Issue: How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Steps:

To install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), either Windows XP Service Pack 1a (SP1a) or Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) must already be installed.

If you have to install Windows XP Service Pack 1a or Windows XP Service Pack 2, go to the "Windows XP Service Pack 1a" section or the "Windows XP Service Pack 2" section in this article.

Important:

These service packs apply only to 32-bit versions of Windows XP. For more information about service packs for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
889100 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889100/ ) How to obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003 To determine which service pack is currently installed on your computer, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.

Copy and paste, or type the following command and then click OK:
winver
A dialog box displays the version of Windows and the service pack that is currently installed on your computer.

Note If you still are not sure which service pack that you have, you might want to ask someone for help, or you might want to contact Support http://support.microsoft.com/ (http://support.microsoft.com/) .

There are three ways to obtain the latest service pack:

More at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389